Berlin voters to decide on faster climate goal

Target of 2030, not ’45, too costly, critics warn

BERLIN — Voters in Berlin go to the polls this weekend to decide on a plan that would force the city government to ramp up the German capital’s climate goals.

Critics warn it could come with a steep price tag.

Sunday’s referendum, which has attracted financial support from U.s.-based philanthropists, calls for Berlin to become climate neutral by 2030. The target means that in less than eight years, the city no longer would be allowed to contribute further to global warming.

An existing law sets the deadline for achieving that goal at 2045, which is also Germany’s national target.

The center-right Christian Democratic Union, which won a recent local election in the capital and is likely to lead its new government, opposes the earlier target but would be bound to it if the referendum passes.

Jessamine Davis, a spokesperson for the grassroots group that initiated the vote, said Berlin’s current target isn’t in line with the 2015 Paris climate accord, which aims to cap global warming at 2.7 degrees compared with the pre-industrial average.

“This is a very ambitious target, we’re clear about that. And it won’t be easy,” she said of the plan to cut almost all emissions by 2030. “But the climate crisis is an even bigger challenge.”

Davis pointed to the flood disaster in western Germany two years ago that killed more than 180 people and caused tens of billions of dollars in economic damage. Scientists say such disasters could become more likely as the planet warms. By contrast, redesigning Berlin’s citywide heating network as one of the measures to become carbon neutral is estimated to cost $4.3 billion, she said.

The referendum requires the support of at least 25 percent of the city’s 2.4 million eligible voters to pass.